Cover image for A storm too soon : a remarkable true survival story in 80-foot seas
A storm too soon : a remarkable true survival story in 80-foot seas
Title:
A storm too soon : a remarkable true survival story in 80-foot seas
Author:
Tougias, Michael J., 1955- author.
Edition:
First edition.
Publication Information:
New York, New York : Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt and Company, 2016.

©2016
Physical Description:
xiii, 220 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Summary:
Seventy-foot waves batter a torn life raft 250 miles out to sea in one of the world's most dangerous places: the Gulf Stream. Hanging on to the raft are three men: a Canadian, a Brit, and their captain, JP de Lutz, a dual citizen of the United States and France. Their capsized forty-seven-foot sailboat has disappeared below the tempestuous sea. The giant waves repeatedly toss the men out of their tiny vessel, and JP, with nine broken ribs, is hypothermic and on the verge of death. Trying to reach these survivors before it's too late are four brave Coast Guardsmen battling hurricane-force winds in their Jayhawk helicopter. With waves reaching an astounding eighty feet, lowering the helicopter into such chaos will be extremely dangerous. The pilots wonder if they have a realistic chance of saving the sailors or even retrieving their own rescue swimmer. Soon the rescuers find themselves in almost as much trouble as the survivors, facing one life-and-death moment after the next against the towering seas. Also caught in the storm are three other boats, each one in a Mayday situation. Of the ten people on these boats, only six will ever see land again. This middle-grade adaptation of the author's 2014 work of the same title tells the story of the four intrepid Coast Guardsmen who braved this ruthless storm in the hopes of saving them.
Language:
English
Contents:
Florida: Countdown to the crossing -- Jean Pierre -- Riding the Gulf Stream -- Spirits are high -- The gathering storm -- Help is greatly needed -- Multiple maydays: The SAR Command Center -- The wave -- The life raft -- Desperation -- The cutter Tampa and the C-130 -- Tumbling in chaos -- Convulsions -- Need max gas -- Tether ourselves together -- "Mark, Mark, Mark!" -- Like a hockey puck on ice -- Deploying the swimmer -- "He needs to go first..." -- As if shot from a cannon -- They're not coming for us -- He's going to drown -- Cherry Point Naval Hospital -- Heading home.
Reading Level:
Ages 9-13.
ISBN:
9781627792813
Format :
Book